Oneida girl, 16, to be buried Thursday on reserve SIERRA PHILLIPS: Police have not released cause of death, saying only it was not a suicide but the result of a ‘tragic set of circumstances’

By JOE BELANGER, THE LONDON FREE PRESS

A 16-year-old girl whose frozen body was found outside a childcare centre in a native community west of London will be buried Thursday.

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate how Sierra Phillips of Oneida First Nation ended up at the centre on Saturday.

Sources say she had been at a party Friday night and was dropped off near the child-care centre early Saturday.

Her body was found Saturday evening. Investigators were to review security camera videos to help piece together events.

Police have declined to release the cause of death, other than to confirm it was not a suicide but a “tragic set of circumstances.”

In a death notice in The Free Press, friends were to be received at 2225 Elm Ave. in Oneida Tuesday and Wednesday.

A funeral will be held Thursday from the residence starting at 11 a.m. with interment at Longhouse Cemetery in Oneida.

The loss comes one week after the death of another young person on an area native reserve.

Brendan Deleary, 15, killed himself Feb. 13. Soon after, there were reports he may have taken his life after being bullied repeatedly on school bus rides home to the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation outside London.